Street Thugs
by LTP-girl
Summary: Mike encounters some foul play on his way to work one morning, instilling concern in Jack and Connie.


**Some quick drabble. Hope y'all like *^_^***

Disclaimer: I do not own Law & Order and its characters.

Centre Street, Manhattan, NY, Monday, 8:45am

"Hey, Jules!" Crystal called out to her friend.

"Yeah what?"

"Look at that guy."

"What guy."

Crystal pointed at the man in question. "That guy across the street. He looks like he's going to the District Attorney's Office."

"Oh yeah, I bet his one of them courtroom stiffs," another girl said. "What do you call 'em?"

"A lawyer?" Jules suggested.

"Yeah!" the girl replied. "A lawyer. He looks like it."

"I bet he's an assistant district attorney. He's heading to the DA's Office," Crystal chimed in. "My sister got prosecuted by one of those guys when she busted a window on Wall Street. She did time in juvie because of that guy."

"About time we gave the pigs some payback," Jules replied.

"Yeah, let's get him!" Another girl cried out.

The group of girls made their way stealthily towards the well dressed man.

He turned around to face them, seeing that they were coming towards him.

"Morning, ladies," he greeted them, catching eye contact. He assumed that they were heading the same way as him, and continued walking, treading through the snow along the sidewalk.

He felt something hard and cold pelt at the back of his head. A snow ball.

It was then he realised that these girls where following him for a reason.

/

Connie approached Jack standing next to the door of Mike's office.

"Jack, I've spoken with Warren Daily's mother, and she claims that he was _not_ Christmas shopping with her, as he so claims, the night of Shelly Bradshaw's murder."

Jack looked at her intently.

She opened the file she was holding in her hand. "She also gave me the contact details of his last employer," she continued. "He worked at a shooting range in New Jersey for two years. And he autopsy report states that whoever shot Shelly Bradshaw seemed to have an imitate knowledge of firing a weapon. There's a definite link."

He clapped Connie on the shoulder with encouragement, pleased with her findings. "Good work, Connie," he said, smiling. "I know Mike will be pleased about this." He lowered his voice to share a private joke with the young ADA. "You know what he's like when he loses a case. He carries on like a little kid who's lost out on his Halloween candy."

Connie stifled a laugh, amused my Jack's idiomatic gesture. That was very true of her die hard, win-at-all-costs colleague, she had thought.

They both began to wonder where Mike was, as he had not yet graced them with his morning presence. It was almost half-past nine, and he was usually at the office an hour before that.

"You haven't seen Mike at all this morning, have you?" Jack enquired, a hint of concern in his voice.

"No I haven't," she replied. "I just assumed that perhaps he got held up on the subway."

"Hmm, very odd," jack said. "It's very unlike Mike to turn up to work this late."

At that moment, the doors of the elevator opened with a loud ding. Mike made his way down the linoleum floored corridor towards his office, his head sunk, glancing down at the floor, looking rather dishevelled.

They couldn't help but notice how worse for wear he had looked on this particular morning. His hair was out of place, his coat was covered in snow droplets, and his nose and cheeks were reddened by the cold air.

"Morning Mike," Jack said to him, an almost cheerful note in his tone, enthused by the latest breakthrough in their case.

Mike looked up at both Connie and Jack.

"Morning," he mumbled to both of them.

He opened the door of his office and entered.

Jack and Connie exchanged apprehensive glances.

They followed him into his office.

"Everything okay, Mike?" Connie asked. "Because the case is picking up, just so you know."

"Yes, indeed it is," Jack agreed, commending Connie once again. "Connie's come across some very interesting information."

Mike mumbled something under his breath, seeming disgruntled, as he dumped his briefcase onto the floor beside his desk. He removed his coat and scarf, which were now wet from the somewhat 'brutal' snowfall attack he had just endured on his way to work.

The thought of Mike having a hangover crossed Jack's mind. It would have explained Mike's out of character behaviour as well as his less than charming mood. But Jack considered it was probably something else entirely.

"I'll leave you to it," Jack said, withdrawing from the office. He made his way back towards his own office, remembering he had a tall stack of subpoenas sitting on his desk that needed filling out.

Connie approached Mike from behind, who was still fumbling with his wet clothing.

"What's wrong, Mike, you seem upset," Connie said softly, her doe-eyes staring him up and down with concern.

Mike whirled around quickly. "I'll tell you what's wrong, Connie..." Mike angered abrasively.

She took a step back, not fond of seeing her boss when he was like this.

Mike continued. "I was making my way down Centre Street, when a group of school girls swarmed me," he ranted, gesturing with his hands. "There were probably about eight of them. They cornered me against the wall of a grocery store, threw a whole lot of snow balls at me, and then swore at me in Spanish. They ran off before I could even get their names!"

An amused smile crept up on Connie's face. "Oh, is that all." She chuckled, finding humour in Mike's misfortune, as well as being incredibly relieved. "What were you going to do, Mike? Have them prosecuted by to ADA Kronsky from the Juvenile Justice?"

"It's not funny, Connie," Mike retorted, picking up his baseball bat, and swinging it through the air. "Kids these days are getting more and more inhumane. No wonder there's so much crime in this city. You can't even be safe travelling to work in broad daylight!"

"Ah, the good old days," Connie reminisced, recalling the nostalgia of spending the winter days leading up to Christmas with her friends when _she_ was in high school. "Have hot chocolate at some run down bodega, followed by a snowball fight, then find some random well dressed businessman on his way to work, and hurl snowballs at him. All of that before school, and we were never even late for homeroom."

He glanced up at Connie with a slightly intrigued frown, his expression puzzled. "I never would have thought of you as the rebellious thug type, Connie," he said.

She laughed. "Well, I've had my moments." She headed towards the door of his office. "Can I get you some coffee? It might warm you up after the, ah, _snowball incident_."

"Yeah sure, why not?" he said with a warm smile, standing behind his desk and turning on his laptop. "Then you can tell me all about this breakthrough."

She smiled back, glad that his dark mood had lifted after telling her what had happened, and made her way towards the break room.

He watched her through the timbre Vinetian blinds, smiling to himself, his eyes following her as she made her way down the hall past his office.

It always seemed to be Connie who lifted his sprits on days like this.

The end.

**What do you think? Feel free to comment:-D**


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